Unexpected News
by Awesomerigby
Summary: Diane goes into work one day only to learn one of her friends has passed away.


**Unexpected News**

Diane had expected today to be a good one. She was going to see Sam, and she was just dying to give him a big kiss. For no reason whatsoever. She was having such a good day. It probably had to do with the fact that for the first time in months, her writer's block wasn't hindering her from getting anything done. When she'd get home, she'd definitely be writing. She couldn't wait to tell Coach. He always listened to her, and he'd be happy for her when he found out.

"Good morning, all!" she exclaimed as she opened the door to Cheers. It was fairly empty which was normal. The usual gang was here, but they seemed… off. It was eerily quiet. Diane's smile faded off her face. She stepped down the steps, neglecting to put her coat away. "Sam?"

Sam was behind the bar. He was staring at her, but he was looking right through her. His hands were on the bar, and he was gripping it so tightly his knuckles were turning white. Cliff wasn't jabbering about some useless fact, and Norm didn't even have a glass of beer. Frasier was quiet as well, resting his elbow on the bar and his cheek upon his palm. Carla was sitting in the back, her tray on the table untouched. There was no sign of Coach.

"Sam?" Diane said again.

Sam's eyes refocused, and this time, he saw her. "Oh, Diane."

"What is with everyone?" she tried to make a joke, but her voice failed her. Something was wrong, she knew it. She went up to the bar and looked at Sam seriously.

Sam gulped a lump in his throat. "Diane… We got some bad news this morning…"

"What?"

"Coach's daughter called. He had to be taken to the hospital last night, and…." Sam had to take a deep breath. "He died in his sleep. "

Diane felt cold. "No."

"I'm sorry."

She put her hand to her mouth as she began to cry. "Not Coach, Sam."

"I know…"

Diane took a tearful breath. She was grateful she didn't put her coat away because she was freezing. Not that it was doing any help, though. It just didn't make sense. How could Coach be gone, just like that? He hadn't been feeling well lately, and he took a few days off, but… he was at Cheers yesterday, feeling fine. And now… it just happened so fast. The atmosphere in here felt completely different.

"You can take the day off, if you want," Sam offered.

Diane shook her head. "No." She sniffled. "He… he wouldn't want me to be sad. But, can I… can I go into your office for a bit?"

Sam nodded, and she went into the back. She sank onto the couch and stared into nothingness. It didn't seem possible. Coach was the only person here who truly understood her, and now, he was gone. She closed her eyes as tears slid down her cheeks.

"Coach," she whispered softly.

Sam stared at his closed office door. He sighed deeply and began to clean glasses. Carla noticed that he had already cleaned the one he had, but she said nothing.

"Poor Diane," Frasier commented. "She talked about Coach all the time. He was like… a father to her, I'd say."

"Father to all of us," Norm corrected. "No matter how goofy he was, he was always there."

"He always made us laugh," Carla said softly. She bit her lip and put her hand down onto her tray loudly. "It's just not fair! He was fine yesterday!"

"These things happen," Frasier said. "Granted, that does not make things any easier. I barely knew the man, but I felt like I had."

Sam put down the glass he was cleaning. He glanced around the bar, at the spot Coach usually occupied. He closed his eyes tightly.

"Sam…" Diane reappeared, her hands on his shoulders.

Sam turned around at her touch.

"We need to have a tribute to him."

"That's a good idea, Diane."

She smiled through her tears and stroked Sam's cheek. "Can we close the bar tonight, then?"

Normally, Sam wouldn't have agreed to that, but he nodded at once. Coach was such an integral part of Cheers, and it would be a crime not to celebrate his life.

That night, Sam posted a sign on the door of Cheers saying, "Bar is closed for a special event. If you would like to celebrate Coach's life, join us." The bar was fuller than usual. Even people who had only been once or twice before showed up. They had remembered Coach and his antics.

Sam set up a projector at the front of the bar, and Coach's daughter brought some old home movies. Lisa also brought a box that had letters that Coach had received and written. Frasier and Diane took the liberty of posting the letters around the bar; they smiled at Coach's familiar scrawl in love letters he had written his wife.

"Look," Diane pointed out. "He had a pen pal." She ran her hand over the letters Coach had received. "Woody."

"I wonder where he is," Frasier said. "I wonder if he knows."

"Come on, everyone!" Sam called from the front of the bar. "We're going to start this night off with some home movies! Lisa, will you do the honors?" Sam flicked off the lights, and Lisa pressed play on the projector.

Everyone was silent as they watched the videos. It showed Coach and his wife as they were getting married. He looked so young, but Diane was sure he was just as goofy back then. There were clips of Coach playing with Lisa, teaching her to ride a bike, and dancing with her when she was no more than seven years old.

Diane glanced over at Sam when videos that were taken in Cheers began playing. Sam was smiling as he watched himself and Coach laugh together over something. She felt her eyes well up with tears, but she dabbed them away before anyone could see.

"Look at Norm!" Carla exclaimed. "Man, you're on your ass in every shot! Time to lose some weight there!"

"Hey, the camera adds ten pounds," Norm protested, though he hadn't moved from his barstool, and he was on his second beer.

"Hey, Sam," Coach said on the screen. "What's with the camera?"

"Oh, Coach, I just wanna capture all my buddies at Cheers!" Sam said. The camera swerved and Diane was on the screen. "Helloooo, Diane!"

"Sam, stop it!" she yelled, putting her hand up to shield her face.

"Put the camera back on me," Coach said, and Sam did. "You gonna make into a film, Sammy? Because I can be a movie star."

"I'm sure you could, Coach. You'd just have to be careful with all the attention."

"Fine with me. I want people to pay attention because then they'll always have to explain the movies to me." He laughed, and Sam laughed as well.

The last film on the screen was a few years old. It was Lisa, about sixteen at this time, dancing with her father in their living room. Her mother was filming, and she could be heard laughing and encouraging them to keep going. Lisa was grinning as she and her father swayed to the music.

Diane saw Lisa wipe a tear away, and she was quick to go to her and offer her a reassuring hug.

"Let's say a few words!" someone called when the movies stopped; the whole bar cheered.

"Alright, alright," Sam said. "If you have anything to say, come up."

Everyone who was at Cheers got up to talk about Coach. They remembered the times he told some stories, and whenever they prodded for more information, he'd start talking about something else.

Harry recalled the time he almost swindled thirty dollars out of Coach. When he finished, he opened his coat and revealed a collection of watches.

"Anyone wanna buy a watch?" he asked smugly.

"That's my watch!" one barfly yelled.

"Well, just talk to me, and we'll settle on a price."

When the only people left were the regulars and Coach's daughter, Frasier stepped up.

"I didn't know Coach well, but he was such a character. He cared about his friends immensely, and he cared about this place. It's a bit darker now." Frasier went silent and sighed. He went back to his seat without a further word.

"What can I say about Coach?" Cliff started. "Well, it's a little known fact that…"

"GET ON WITH IT!" Carla shouted.

"Okay, okay! Well, Coach was always there. He even let me talk about my trivia, and he never got so verbal with it, like someone." He glanced at Carla.

"Because Coach was too nice," she leveled. "Now, get out and let me do some talking, okay?" She didn't even wait for Cliff to respond and went to the front, staring at him until he gave up and sat back down. "Alright, then. So, Coach was pretty much awesome. He may have been a dope at times, but he had a good heart, and the doc's right… this place is darker without him. But, you know what? We'll make it light again because that's what Coach would want."

"Right on, Carla," Sam said with a grin.

"Do I gotta get up?" Norm asked when everyone looked at him. "Listen, Coach would've wanted me to give a speech sitting in my favorite stool. See, that's how cool he was. Who else is going to pour by beer so flawlessly? Like everyone's been saying, Coach was always eager to see us, always eager to work. And he better have been because I made that guy work A LOT."

Everyone in the bar chuckled. Diane wondered who could possibly go next when she felt Sam's hand on the small of her back, urging her forehead. She didn't know what she could possibly say, but she went up anyway.

"Hello, everyone. I don't know what to say, but I will say that Coach was the kindest person I had ever met. He was always willing to listen, but I suppose that's part of the job description!" She laughed and turned red when no one joined in. "Anyway, it felt like Coach was the heart of Cheers, and without him, it won't be the same, but we will move on. We will prevail. And we will continue to make this a place of which Coach would be proud. Thank you." She bowed and was about to step down when she remembered something else to say. "Oh and…"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Carla yelled.

Diane frowned and went back to her seat. She brushed Lisa's hand as she walked past. Lisa went up right after her, going up before Sam could stop her.

"I know he's my father, but Sam, I think you deserve the last words," she said. Sam nodded his thanks. "I want to thank you all for your wonderful words. Daddy would've been happy to hear all this. It's hard, but I'm happy he's not suffering. He was in so much pain for a while." She sighed. "He was the best person in the world. He always looked out for me, he always listened to me. And in such a cold world, it's nice to have someone who loved me as much as my father did. He loved everyone here. When I talked to him, he always told me stories about Cheers, and I'm so glad he had such a warm place with people who loved him." She smiled. The bar erupted in applause. Lisa nodded at Sam, and it was finally his turn.

Sam looked nervous as if he didn't know what to say. Diane watched him open and close his mouth at least three times before he finally spoke, "Coach was more than just a coach. He was… he was like a father to me. When I hit my rough spots in my life, he was there. I am proud of how I've overcame alcoholism, but really, I wouldn't have been able to do it if not for Coach, pushing me every step of the way. Like Diane said, he was the heart of this place." His voice cracked and he sighed. He was silent for a moment before continuing, "So, that's how we should run this place. As if Coach is always with us. We wanna make him proud, don't we?"

The cheers were even louder this time. Carla was whistling, Diane was yelling, "hear, hear!" and barflies were banging tables with their mugs, all in honor of Coach's life.

Sam left without saying anything. It got Diane worried. This was taking a toll on him, and she hoped he would be okay. When Sam returned, he was holding a picture of Geronimo. She remembered Coach had brought it a few months back to show them; he must have forgotten it.

"In honor of Coach," Sam said loudly. "This picture will never be taken down." He placed it on the wall and slammed the tack to keep it up. "He will always be with us, and we will always remember him."

There were more deafening roars when the picture was put up. Diane, Carla, Norm, Cliff, and Frasier all went to Sam's side. They put their arms around each other and were silent as they smiled at each other, remembering their fallen friend.

 **The End**


End file.
